CRESCO - The National Association of Trailer Manufacturers (NATM) named Alum-Line Trailers of Cresco, as the recipient of the 2017 Green Manufacturing Award.

The award was presented to Alum-Line Trailers President Gary Gooder and Marketing Manager Sydney Gooder by NATM president Greg Snyder at the 29th annual NATM national convention and trade show held Feb. 15–17 at Disney’s Coronado Springs Resort in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.

Alum-Line, a family-owned company, builds a variety of commercial trailers as well as truck bodies and tool boxes; it is known for the quality of its custom aluminum products. Alum-Line is a family-owned and operated manufacturing company in Cresco, with a growing national network of dealers.

Producing all-original aluminum products, Alum-Line is proud to offer exceptional service, through the duration of the sale and beyond.

Every Alum-Line body, trailer, or box is built by the same team start to finish, and every product is hand delivered by their trucking team to the customer’s door or to the retail dealer. Alum-Line’s business relationships are just as strong as their products: set up to last a lifetime.

According to Ron Yarnell, PPG, the Green Manufacturing Award was established to recognize the NATM member with the year’s best solution or innovation that delivers a positive impact on the environment.

“The award is intended to encourage NATM members to implement ecologically sound programs,” said Yarnell. “We are all accountable for how our actions affect the world around us. Environmental sensitivity, sustainability, doing the right things—it’s all more important than ever. Companies that take this mission to heart and make the necessary improvements reflect well on our industry and our society. Alum-Line is one of those companies.”

“It was a great honor to receive this year’s Green Award,” said Gary Gooder. “As long- term members of the NATM, this award helped sparked our interest to work even harder to have our company and facilities as environmentally friendly and energy efficient as possible. These practices are never-ending and popular with our employees, and we will continue to add additional green practices every year. Our local energy company just conducted an energy audit of our manufacturing plants and were very impressed with all the upgrades in LED lighting that we have installed.”

The initiatives that companies may employ include process or equipment improvements, emissions reduction, recycling techniques, material utilization, design advancement and other ecologically responsible actions. Award applicants are required to provide documentation of their work demonstrating the results of their efforts. Entries are judged by the NATM executive committee.

Alum-Line was selected for the 2017 award because of the steps the company has taken to improve efficiencies and sustainability awareness. In his presentation, Snyder noted Alum-Line’s environmental actions:

• In 2014 Alum-Line installed solar panels on two of the company’s largest manufacturing buildings. The facilities have since generated 63.5 million watt hours of clean energy—equivalent to planting 1,150 trees, running a refrigerator for 38.6 years, or powering a 13-watt CFL bulb for 558 years.

• A solar powered manufacturing building with efficient floor heat and good urethane insulation was completed in 2014. Expansions totaling more than 70,000 square feet have been set up to use floor heat. Converting all lighting to efficient LED began in 2014, saving a total of 35,542 kilowatt hours of electrical energy to date, with the project more than 80 percent complete.

• Alum-Line recycles and neutralizes chemicals used during washing trailers before they enter the city water waste. The company enforces that all Environmental Protection Agency guidelines are met.

• The company promotes in-house recycling by educating its employees, customers and the community and by setting a good example: Alum-Line recycles used tires, wood pallets and scrap metal to local vendors. In addition to saving trees through reduced use and recycling of paper products, Alum-Line planted nearly two acres of new trees on its property this year.

• Alum-Line reduces scrap by using materials according to comprehensive waste reduction measures. When usable and appropriate, scrap is kept for future builds.

• Alum-Line maintains its own transportation department and organizes deliveries specifically for efficiency to reduce fuel and oil consumption.

These projects have paved the way and led as an example for other businesses in the region. “Our products are green by nature. The lightweight aluminum products have always been long-lasting, totally recyclable, and customers gain fuel savings when compared to steel competitors,” says Gooder, “So we have always been focused on the theme of sustainability throughout all of our business operations and proactive about our environmental impact. We strive to set a good example.”

“Alum-Line has already been very influential to our area for implementation of clean energy solutions. With their reputation as a national company and a leading local employer, citizens favor Alum-Line and respect their mission,” says Howard County Energy District board member Miles Hayes, an energy engineer for a national company CLEAResult.

“Between solar installations, high efficiency floor heating, high efficiency insulation upgrades, and recent retrofit to high efficiency LED lighting, Alum-Line is respected for sustainable commercial business practices. Gary's involvement with local non-profits has been very beneficial in helping to drive local sustainability efforts. In addition, they have set the bar in our community for high efficiency manufacturing by implementing a number of lean practices and waste management processes.

“Alum-Line may be the most sustainable manufacturing company of this side of the state. Other factories should comply with Alum-Line’s eco-awareness. The company is usually well under half-capacity for waste…they have 80 employees yet have an average of only four yards of garbage for all four factories! There are a lot of weeks that we don’t even have to collect waste because they are so lean,” reported Hawkeye Sanitation of Northeast Iowa.

The Green Manufacturing award includes a cash gift that is directed to a charitable organization of the winner’s choice. Alum-Line selected the Howard County Agricultural and Historical Society in Cresco as the recipient.

At their meeting on March 6, 2017, the Historical Society members accepted the cash gift of $9,250 from Gary and Sydney. Don and Rosie Gooder planted the idea when discussing the need of more space, and so this money was used to kickstart the fundraiser. Gary says, “It’s a great thing to preserve the Earth, but we also have to preserve our history.”